Small Readers: Please, no more nuts! By Jonathan Fenske

[Originally published February 2018]

The sequel to the hilarious and manic We need more nuts! does not disappoint. The nut fanatic has changed. In her first book, she was going nuts for nuts! She stuffed them in her friend's cheeks! She counted them exuberantly! But no more. Now they are sick of nuts. Sick, sick, sick! But how can they get rid of them? They’ve already eaten so many that they’re looking a bit green! Maybe...you would like some nuts? PLEASE TAKE THE NUTS!

The manic tone continues, but this time flips the plot on its head as the squirrels illustrate just what happens when you have too much of a good thing. Readers will giggle hysterically as they bounce through the rhymes of the sick-of-nuts narrator and her companion and their pleas for someone, anyone, to take those nuts away!

This book is a guided reading level H, which is an intermediate level for readers who have grasped the basics and can tackle more complex sentences and words. The sentences are still short and easy, but include words like “queasy”, “chubby”, and “storage.” Readers who have reached this point will be able to divide their attention between the words and pictures, and follow along on the visual jokes as well.

The wacky cartoons vary from full-page art to comic panels. The backgrounds and speech bubbles have contrasting colors, mint green, pale yellow and blue, and white. Fenske employs speech bubbles, thought bubbles, flash backs, and of course lots of exaggeration and hyperbole.

Verdict: Fenske’s early readers have been hits both for my patrons and in book club and this is a worthy sequel to Cybils finalist We need more nuts! Highly recommended.

Revisited: Fenske has created many more funny and popular books for the beginning reader set but this is still a classic I love to recommend.

ISBN: 9780515159660; Published 2018 by Penguin; Review copy provided by publisher and donated to the library; Purchased for the library